Solar Farms Come Up Short
No offense to ordinary, decent schizophrenics, but Virginia Democrats appear to be suffering from this or a similar mental disorder.
And they’re off their meds.
Examples abound, but here’s just one: The left-wing radicals who once were tree-huggers, have morphed into lovers of solar panels. As far as these loons are concerned, the more fertile farmland that’s covered in mirrors, the better.
In fact, the General Assembly passed legislation that took effect July 1 that voids blanket community-wide bans and restrictive caps on solar farms.
Expect to see more farms and fallow fields transformed into endless seas of reflective solar panels, because “green” energy is so much more important than agriculture. No matter how much pollution is created to make the panels.
According to WJLA reporter Nick Minock, Spotsylvania County, Virginia is home to the largest solar panel development east of the Rockies.
And it’s hideous.
Oh, and it generates minuscule amounts of power.
“Despite its large 6,300+ acre footprint, it doesn’t provide enough power for one large data center complex in Loudoun County.”
SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (7News) — The largest solar farm on the East Coast and one of the largest solar projects east of the Rockies is located in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
The AES-owned Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center contains more than 6,300 acres of solar panels.
According to the company’s website, the Spotsylvania solar energy farm is planned to produce 485 MW. Despite its massive size, the Spotsylvania solar farm wouldn’t produce enough electricity to power the 500 MW Digital Realty [IAD37] data center complex in Ashburn.
Right now, there are more than 200 data centers in Loudoun County, more than 50 in Prince William County. Fairfax County has around 20 data centers, and more are on the way in those three counties, along with Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Culpeper counties. Overall, there are more than 600 data centers in Virginia.
In 2020, Virginia lawmakers passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which requires Dominion Energy to deliver 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045 and Appalachian Power by 2050.
On Tuesday, State Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) said Virginia's goal of reaching 100% carbon-free energy by 2045 is being derailed by data centers.
Uh-oh. Looks like the climate crazies have a dilemma. Even if they cover the entire commonwealth in solar panels and clutter the Atlantic horizon with whale-and-seabird killing windmills, they won’t be able to meet the energy demands of the booming data center industry.
And the little guys - me and you - with our houses that need a comparatively tiny amount of electricity to keep things running? We’ll be paying engorged electric bills to cover this anti-coal insanity.
Notice that the nutty Clean Economy Act was passed during the leftist Northam regime. The foolishness of those politicians was compounded this year once the lefties were back in control and immediately rejoined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Residential electric bills are headed up sharply thanks to that meaningless virtue signaling.
Until we return sane politicians to Richmond who understand that electricity has to come from a variety of sources, coal being one and nuclear (small modular reactors) being another, we will continue to suffer at the hands of brainwashed leftists.
